NJ Justices Adopt Atty Rule Barring Sex With Clients

By Carla Baranauckas

New Jersey attorneys will be prohibited from having sexual relationships with current clients beginning Sept. 1 under a new ethics rule that the state's highest court approved Thursday, replacing New Jersey's case-by-case approach with a bright-line prohibition.

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Campbell's Beats Worker's Suit Over Tobacco Health Plan Fee

By Grace Elletson

A New Jersey federal judge has shuttered a worker's suit claiming soup producer The Campbell's Co. imposed an illegal fee on employees if they used tobacco, ruling that his case fell apart because he never disclosed whether he enrolled in a program that would have allowed him to dodge the extra charge.

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J&J's Delays Should End $25M Asbestos Appeal, Builder Says

By George Woolston

A western Massachusetts real estate developer has asked a Connecticut appeals court to toss Johnson & Johnson's appeal of a $25 million asbestos cancer verdict in his favor, saying the company has yet to file an opening brief despite receiving five deadline extensions.

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Ex-Client Can't Revive Brach Eichler Malpractice Suit

By Adrian Cruz

A New Jersey appellate panel on Thursday affirmed a lower court ruling granting summary judgment to Brach Eichler LLC in a suit accusing the firm of legal malpractice from its work in a long-running real estate dispute.

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NJ Panel Backs Doc In Malpractice Case Over Missed Cancer

By Y. Peter Kang

A New Jersey appeals court Thursday tossed a suit accusing a doctor of negligent medical treatment which led to a three-year delay of a patient's cancer diagnosis, saying the patient's medical expert did not properly allege that the delay caused harm.

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FEMA Is Illegally Tying Funds To Election Rules, States Say

By Lauren Berg

A group of mostly Democratic-led states asked a Rhode Island federal court Thursday to stop the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from withholding disaster-relief funds unless they comply with the Trump administration's election administration and immigration enforcement demands.

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NJ Rule Change Proposed To Shield AG's Atty Training Docs

By Jack Karp

A potential rule change would exempt New Jersey's attorney general from having to publicly release certain government attorney training materials, like those at the center of a government watchdog's recent lawsuit.

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Third Murder Trial Not Double Jeopardy, 3rd Circ. Says

By Parker Quinlan

The Third Circuit ruled on Thursday that a Pennsylvania man is not eligible for habeas corpus relief after he was made to face trial over the same murder three separate times, because a state court previously ruled he was correctly convicted and the retrials did not violate double jeopardy rules.

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EEOC, UPenn Resolve Fight Over Jewish Workers' Info

By Grace Elletson

The University of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission struck a deal to end their battle over a subpoena seeking contact information of Jewish UPenn employees after the agency agreed to back away from enforcing it, the parties told the Third Circuit on Thursday.

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Crypto Miner Poolin Hits Ch. 11 After China Ban, Market Slump

By Rick Archer

Bitcoin miner Poolin Technology filed for Chapter 11 protection in New Jersey bankruptcy court with more than $173 million in liabilities and plans for an asset sale, pointing to price volatility and a Chinese ban on cryptocurrency mining.

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HUD Says States Aren't Harmed By Fair Housing Standards

By Isaac Monterose

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development told a California federal court to toss a suit filed by the District of Columbia and 15 states over past standards for receiving funding for fair housing enforcement, arguing that the plaintiffs lack Article III standing because they have not shown how they have been harmed by the funding standards.

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Paramount-Warner TRO Extended As Injunction Fight Looms

By Lauren Berg

A California federal judge Thursday extended a temporary restraining order preventing Paramount Skydance Corp. from closing its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

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Feature

State High Courts Issue Top 2026 Specialty Insurance Rulings

By Abraham Gross

State high courts took the lead on specialty line insurance issues in the first half of 2026, including on cyber recovery disputes and the nuances of directors and officers coverage. Law360 has a midyear look.

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Brief

Textile Print Co. Kornit Gets First OK For $19.5M Investor Deal

By Sydney Price

A New Jersey federal judge has preliminarily approved a nearly $20 million deal resolving class action claims alleging textile technology company Kornit Digital Ltd. and its executives misled investors about its financial prospects and concealed customer issues that affected the business.

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Series

Being A Singer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Before law school, I spent seven years trying to make it as a professional singer in Los Angeles, and nearly everything I learned about preparation, humility, confidence and more has followed me into my legal practice, says Jessica Caterina at Moses & Singer.

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How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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Simpson Thacher Warned Co. About Deal Terms, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

A retired Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP partner who handled the fundraising vehicle alleged to have destroyed Patriot National Inc. told a Florida jury Thursday that he flagged deal terms that later became detrimental to the insurance services company.

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ABA Rips DOJ's 'Absurd' Firm Subpoenas In Documents Fight

By Emily Sawicki

The American Bar Association has blasted as "absurd" the government's move to subpoena law firms as an attempt to avoid a documents request from the organization amid allegations the Trump administration worked to intimidate law firms into conforming with his policy goals through executive orders last year.

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Judge's Deportation Probe 'Off The Rails,' DOJ Tells DC Circ.

By Britain Eakin

The Trump administration urged the full D.C. Circuit to either order U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to terminate his criminal contempt inquiry into the administration's Alien Enemies Act removals last year, or order him to forgo live testimony in the probe.

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Jack Smith's Lawyers Say Criminal Referral Twists Testimony

By Courtney Bublé

Former special counsel Jack Smith's legal team has said the criminal referral a U.S. Congress member sent the Department of Justice to investigate Smith is based on a "spurious claim."

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500-Member NYC Public Defender Union Ends Strike

By Andrea Keckley

The first and so far only New York City public defender union to go on strike this year announced on Wednesday that its approximately 500 members are returning to work after reaching a tentative agreement with their managers.

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Patent Atty Sues USPTO Over 'Flawed' Disciplinary Procedure

By Hailey Konnath

An Ohio patent lawyer Thursday accused the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of using an unlawful "pay for play" system for its disciplinary proceedings against attorneys, claiming the disciplinary proceedings are "inherently biased" and rigged against him and others facing discipline.

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Senate Confirms 2 Judges, Advances Ohio And Colo. Picks

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Thursday voted 48-47 to confirm Judge Daniel Traynor of the District of North Dakota to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and 49-44 to confirm Antonio M. Pozos, a partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, as a judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

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